The Purpose of the Music Video

This essay will be an analysis of the emergence of music videos and the way they have evolved since they were created. There are many types of music videos that span out across the many genres of music- each fitting their respective category better than others. The first kind of music video that was every really used, was in the early 40's when Jukeboxes would play short videos along with music. A decade later, Hollywood began to take music stars such as Elvis Presley and featured them in films, spawning the 'Rock'n'Roll' film. In the 70's, musicians began to perform live on TV and broadcast their music to thousands of people. In the year of 1981, MTV which, at the time, was the only music video channel on television, was created. The first video to air on this channel was the video for the song 'Video Killed the Radio Star' was made in 1981, by The Buggles.

Promotion of Artists and Directors

Within music videos, artists can be promoted through the work. This is when the singers or band are included within the video, either in a main role or even just a cameo. An example of this would be in the music for The White Stripes song 'Seven Nation Army'. In this video, Jack and Meg White are seen playing their respective instruments, in a mix of visual effects and lights. This use of the musicians allows their fans to see the people behind the music and promotes their image. If they were to use actors, people may not realise and could mistake the actors for the actual musicians. 



As well as artists, directors can be promoted through a music video. This is when the video is somewhat equally or even more memorable or recognisable than the song itself, due to its style. An example of directors being promoted through a music video is the video for Tame Impala's song 'Feels Like We're Only Going Backwards' directed by Joe Pelling and Becky Solan. Although these two are not huge, well known directors, this video that they created for this song is very well received and praised by fans. These directors were previously known for their weird, experimental YouTube video 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared' that was released in 2011. This combination of Pelling and Solan's strange visual style along with Tame Impala's psychedelic music, works well.

Producer's Strategies

When a music video is produced, the artists and video are marketed by a producer in order to gain popularity and sales. Certain artists are promoted differently for many reasons such as style, popularity and genre. An example of a mainstream artist would be Justin Bieber, who already has a large following and popularity, so marketing isn't as vital when it comes to his music. Although some teasers or promotional material such as album covers or clips from music videos will be released which happened when his song 'Boyfriend' was released.


Independent bands and artists are different to mainstream artists, as they do not have the same publicity and popularity. This means that they have to rely on their record labels to create a music video for them, in order to get their music out on more platforms and to be seen by more people. These kinds of artists are most likely to be seen on YouTube or Itunes, than MTV or any mainstream form of entertainment. For example, the band The Carnabys had their song 'Elizabeth', funded by their record label, Four Horsemen Records.



In a similar situation, are self-producers who are artists that are not signed to a record label and have to promote themselves and create a music video independently, through their own money or in some cases a crowdfund. These videos would be released on platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and Itunes due to their large user counts and easy access. An example of this would be Post Malone's song 'White Iverson'  which cost around $5,000 of his own money to make, but has been viewed over 200 million times on YouTube since its release.



Extension of Artist and Record Label Income

Extension of income is what happens when a music video is made, as is increased the profit and income of the artist and record label, due to more traffic being led to the video in addition to listening to it on the radio or other non-visual mediums. This allows money to be made from two different mediums at the same time, which essentially doubles the amount of money they make from the royalties and sales. This only really works in theory as it is extremely hard to track to exact number of people watching a video or listening to a song, due to the rise in popularity of people pirating or re-uploading an artist's video. An example of this would be Pikotaro's song 'Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen' which was released in late 2016. This song became a huge success and was seen globally, and was then re-uploaded thousands of times, rendering it near impossible to find the original video posted by Pikotaro himself, whilst all the re-uploads gain views and traction, which in turn makes them money instead of the artist.




Extension of Platforms/Outlets

With music, there are many platforms to release and promote the work. Sites such as YouTube and Vimeo allow videos to be uploaded for free, and have the potential to be seen by hundreds of people around the world. As well as this, outlets like Itunes also allow music to be shared easily for a relatively cheap fee, but again, the artist has a potential to make all that money back, as well as a profit. Though these are good, accessible options, they all have their pros and cons. YouTube for example is free, but is not always a sure fire way to get noticed and grow a career. The same goes for Itunes, although with the initial fee for uploading the music, there is a chance to not make the money back and not attract an audience. For example the album 'Blurryface' by Twenty One Pilots is on several outlets like Amazon and Itunes. 

Synergy

In the media industry, synergy is when products in relation to the main product such as a song, are made. For example, action figures, clothing and phone cases are some of the things that are often sold to promote a song or film. A recent example of this would be the film Suicide Squad, which had a soundtrack made up of several different mainstream artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Skrillex and Twenty One Pilots. The song created by Skrillex for the soundtrack, named 'Purple Lamborghini', included the film's actor Jared Leto, as his character the Joker. This was tied into the promotion of the film, as merchandising for this extremely popular character was a safe bet to make money, which was done through the release of many different variations of figures, clothing items and other accessories that included his image to promote the song and film.



Conclusion

I believe music videos are important as they allow a visual representation of the music to be created, giving a director the chance to create an experience to co-exist with the music in harmony, which can enhance the entertainment factor a lot, in my opinion. They also give a chance to allow artist to promote themselves and grow through different mediums.